US provides Ukraine with free intelligence for strikes on Russian energy infrastructure

According to The Atlantic, the United States continues to provide Ukraine free of charge with intelligence for strikes on Russian energy infrastructure and troop positions.

The publication came against the backdrop of a massive Ukrainian drone attack on Nizhnekamsk, which killed 12 people and wounded 39.

“The only thing the United States is still providing for free, according to American and Ukrainian sources, is intelligence, including targeting packages for strikes on Russian troop positions in Ukraine and on energy infrastructure inside Russia,” The Atlantic reports, citing RBC-Ukraine.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe has been the driving force behind preserving this cooperation, having persuaded the administration not to abandon the agency’s role in supporting Kyiv. The current arrangement is a continuation of a policy first approved by President Trump in late 2025, when the Wall Street Journal reported that the US would provide Ukraine with intelligence support for long-range missile strikes on Russian energy facilities.

The intelligence relationship has not been without tension. In March 2025, the Trump administration temporarily suspended intelligence sharing with Ukraine following a heated meeting between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office. The matter has since been resolved: according to Politico, Ukrainian forces receive around 80% of their intelligence from partners, the bulk of it provided by the United States.

As The Atlantic observes, the damage inflicted on Russia’s energy sector serves US interests: it reduces Russian oil exports and makes India and China more vulnerable to American tariffs. In recent months, Ukraine has been striking Russian oil facilities almost daily using long-range drones, causing fuel shortages, reducing Russia’s refining capacity, and stoking anxiety among the Russian population.

Monday’s strike targeted Nizhnekamsk, a city in Tatarstan located approximately 1,000 kilometers from the Ukrainian border. Industrial and civilian facilities were targeted. Local authorities described the drone attack as “massive.”

The publication came amid an escalation of strikes on both sides. Over the weekend, Russian attacks across Ukraine killed 13 people and wounded around 90. Strikes on a multi-story residential building in Kharkiv killed three people and wounded 37 more. Russia claimed to have destroyed 153 Ukrainian drones overnight from Saturday to Sunday.

Russia has also accelerated its own missile production: according to Ukrainian intelligence, the annual production targets for Zircon and Oniks missiles had already been met by early August — with 33 Zircon missiles and 60 Oniks missiles produced in the first seven months of 2026.